Closing night
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: After the final performance of 'West Side Story', Blaine finds out that there was a familiar face in the audience after all: his cousin Jesse.


**A/N**: So... it's been a while since I last posted anything for this... 'verse, or whatever it is. But yes, it's one of those Jesse-and-Blaine-are-cousins one-shots again :P Let's just say I was very inspired by Jesse's presence on the show last week to write some more for this. And until it undoubtedly will turn out not to be so, this is as close to canon as I can write it. I even went back and edited previous one-shots so, for instance, Blaine wouldn't point out to Jesse that Jesse didn't have any other cousins but Blaine. (So yes, that means Cooper got edited in in some way.) Anyway, more in this 'verse should be up soon, though it might not necessarily be with Blaine and Jesse as main characters. I'll figure something out :)

Anyway... hopefully you'll enjoy it, and please leave a review when you're done :)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Glee or anything else you may recognise, such as _West Side Story_.

* * *

As he realised that the curtains were going up, Blaine took a deep breath and smiled almost unwillingly. This was it. The final show of _West Side Story_. He couldn't believe how quickly it had gone by; it only seemed like yesterday that they'd started. And what a week it had been.

Forcing the distracting thoughts out of his head, Blaine tried to focus. He couldn't screw this up. This was closing night, and he wanted it to be perfect. He wasn't the only one. Artie had been stressing about it all day, and the actors' nerves had been almost tangible. No matter how perfect this was going to be, though, Blaine was kind of glad his parents had come earlier that week. They hadn't been able to make it to opening night, but they had been present for his third show. Some of his other family had come along as well, but, as Blaine had already expected, there had been no sign of Cooper. Not that Blaine had gone out of his way to invite him – his parents might've, though. Then again, he could only imagine the state McKinley High would be in if they found out that The Cooper Anderson was in town and coming to the show.

Since his parents had assured him that no, Cooper wasn't secretly in town and going to surprise him later, Blaine felt himself relax just a little bit. Although it stung that his brother was never there for him, Blaine wasn't really looking forward to being subjugated to Cooper's criticisms about the musical.

Before he knew it, it was time for him to get on stage as well. The moment he walked on, he would be calm, collected, and, as Kurt put it, the perfect Tony. He could do this.

o-o-o-o-o

It had gone well, fortunately. When Blaine left the backstage area – it tended to get quite crowded there, so Blaine opted to wait for Kurt elsewhere – he was immediately intercepted by the only other family member he was somewhat close to and who hadn't shown up before. His cousin Jesse.

"That was quite a show, Blaine," Jesse said, a smile just there. "Of course, you probably watched the DVD of my own performance of _West Side Story_ back in senior year many times to get a good idea of what Tony had to be like, so that wasn't much of a surprise. While you weren't perfect, you made a pretty decent Tony."

It was actually quite sad that everyone in his family who'd come to see the musical had mentioned that particular performance, and Blaine wondered when he'd gone from being in only his brother's shadow to being in his cousin's as well. Then again – at least he got some compliments out of Jesse and the rest of the family every now and then. It was more than he could expect from his brother.

No one would ever know – at least until Kurt would undoubtedly find the DVD of Carmel High's production of _West Side Story_ at the back of Blaine's bookshelf – that _this_, exactly this, was also one of the reasons why, when his audition grew nearer, Blaine had doubted whether going for the part of Tony would be such a good idea.

"Thanks, Jesse. Coming from you, that's about the highest praise one can get."

Jesse shrugged and looked around. "Still, I cannot understand why you came here, Blaine. I've told you a thousand times already that McKinley is a dump, but did you listen? No."

Blaine smiled at that. "It's not as bad as it used to be, if what I hear from others is true. And besides, we both transferred here for similar reasons, didn't we?"

"You transferred because you're a hopeless romantic who'll do anything your boyfriend asks, no matter what, even coming to the worst public school in Ohio even though he's a senior and you're only a junior and will be on your own here next year," Jesse corrected him. "I transferred because of a carefully thought out plan by my former director."

"Speaking of whom," Blaine muttered. He'd seen Ms Corcoran in the audience one night, so he was fairly sure she wasn't here now.

Jesse nodded. "I heard she's back in town. Some millionaire who gives his daughter anything she wants, including her very own show choir?" Blaine nodded, and Jesse looked thoughtful. "I haven't spoken to her yet, though. Maybe I should. Perhaps she's got some useful advice about how to run a show choir. Those kids at Carmel haven't exactly gotten more talented since I left. They're all awful."

"Aren't there still students who were in Vocal Adrenaline with you two years ago?" Blaine asked. After all, it wasn't like Jesse had been gone for that long, and everyone knew that Carmel High was notorious for not letting people graduate if they could help Vocal Adrenaline win another national title.

"They all graduated, or switched schools," Jesse replied, leaning against the wall behind them. "Or Goolsby kicked them off and there seems to be no way of getting them back."

"Are the sponsors still giving you trouble?" Blaine inquired, and Jesse shook his head.

"They've all calmed down now, fortunately. Still, the budget is not what it used to be. It looks like they're not getting cars this year unless we win Nationals. Which we will, of course."

Blaine couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Keep telling yourself that, Jesse."

"Oh, I will," Jesse responded. "I will. Because it's true. New Directions may have acquired you, but that's not enough to beat us, Blaine, even though you're a much better singer than any of the other guys in your group."

Blaine wouldn't be too sure of that, but he knew that Jesse didn't look back on his time at McKinley as if it were a good time, and he'd never seemed to get along with most New Directions members. Plus, he was Blaine's cousin.

Jesse was eyeing him suspiciously now. "Hey," he said, poking Blaine's shoulder. "What's wrong? No one's giving you any trouble, right?"

Blaine shrugged. "No, it's alright. Most of them have been very welcoming."

"But?" Jesse prodded, and Blaine knew that if he were to pull focus to the fact that Jesse actually seemed concerned, the moment would be ruined.

"Nothing," he muttered. When that didn't seem to convince Jesse, he sighed. "Fine. Finn."

"Finn Hudson," Jesse said quietly. "I should've known. He's jealous because you're stealing his thunder, isn't he?"

"I doubt it," Blaine replied. "Who would be jealous of me? I don't really know what it is, though. We always got along swimmingly, during the summer and even before that."

"He's a prick," Jesse muttered. "Just ignore him, Blaine. You're better than him anyway."

Blaine nodded. "That's what Kurt always tells me. Well – the ignoring part, I mean."

Jesse smirked. "And you're still going strong." When Blaine couldn't help but blush slightly, Jesse frowned at him. "Okay, I don't want to know. Where is he anyway? Still backstage?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah, he's… yeah."

"And how did he feel about you having to act so in love with your ex-girlfriend?" Jesse asked, now smirking widely.

"She's _not_ my ex-girlfriend," Blaine said, exasperated. "We went on one date. That's all. She's your ex, she's Puck's ex, but she's not my ex."

"Whoa, calm down, squirt," Jesse said teasingly. "You – "

"Don't call me that," Blaine told him. "Just – don't. It's bad enough already with Coop calling me that. Don't start doing that as well, okay? I know you want to grow up to be just like him, but there are limits."

"Okay, fine," Jesse replied, "jeez. Or what?"

"I've barely spoken to him these past few years," was all Blaine said, but he knew that Jesse understood what he meant. His cousin liked to play dumb sometimes, but Blaine knew better than that.

Jesse nodded. "Got it. So you got me. I guess I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was to see Rachel as Maria. It was inevitable, after all. I guess I thought maybe they'd changed things up and made it an all-male production, but that's what they would've done at Dalton."

"I don't believe they put up musicals at Dalton," Blaine said, before shrugging. "And how did you feel about your cousin having to act 'so in love with your ex-girlfriend'?"

Jesse shot Blaine a look. "Honestly? You didn't have a lot of chemistry, but you made it work. It was hard to make out your voice in your duets, by the way. Rachel's voice is pretty loud. Perhaps you should've worked on that. But, considering the circumstances, it was alright. Much better than Finn would've done."

Blaine hummed. "So no criticisms about lack of shouting and pointing and the fact that we kept looking each other in the eye?"

"I'm not Cooper, Blaine," Jesse reminded him. "I don't _always_ criticise you. And besides, I know that _West Side Story_ isn't exactly the right musical to do lots of shouting and pointing in emotional scenes. Those things happen enough when the gangs are fighting."

"You learned the hard way, didn't you?" Blaine asked, and Jesse shrugged.

"No, the director at Carmel wasn't very happy when I came in with tips from my big-shot actor of a cousin. Said that it was going to happen his way or I could leave and he'd find himself another Tony." After a few seconds, he added, "The show would hardly have become the success it did with me as the lead."

Blaine didn't doubt that; there was a reason why Jesse had been the lead vocalist of Vocal Adrenaline, after all.

"Is there some sort of after party?" Jesse then asked, looking around. For some reason, people weren't really leaving yet.

"Not as far as I know," Blaine replied. "We had one after the first performance, and we'll probably get together tomorrow to discuss how everything went, but… that's it."

They then started discussing the pros and cons of several changes the directors (mostly Artie) had made in the script – Blaine wasn't really against it, but Jesse thought of it as nothing less than blasphemy – and not too long after, Kurt emerged from backstage. He looked surprised to see Jesse there.

"Kurt," Jesse greeted him, nodding politely, and Blaine fought back the urge to roll his eyes.

"Jesse," Kurt acknowledged him in the exact same manner. "Blaine didn't tell me you were coming today."

"I didn't know," Blaine said. "I found out after the show."

"You were a… good Officer Krupke," Jesse said stiffly. "I must admit, though, it wasn't quite the role I'd expected you to go for."

"Well, I didn't," Kurt replied. "Apparently, though, the directors thought it would be best if I didn't sing during the course of the musical."

"Right." For a moment, Jesse seemed caught off guard, but then he continued. "You don't exactly have the kind of voice leading men tend to have, they were right about that."

"Thanks." This wasn't going to end well, Blaine thought.

"Well, it's the truth. And it's not like I haven't – "

"Okay," Blaine interrupted Jesse. "Can you just… please try to get along, at least?"

"What did I do?" Jesse asked, and in that moment, he really reminded Blaine of Cooper. Deciding not to mention it, Blaine turned to Kurt instead.

"Are you ready to go?" Kurt nodded, and Blaine smiled.

"So you're just going to leave me here?" Jesse asked, a little too dramatically to be taken seriously. "Don't worry, I'll keep myself occupied. Maybe I'll even wait for Rachel… Haven't spoken to her in a long time."

"I doubt it's a good idea to start again now," Kurt told him.

"You should stop by some time, Jesse," Blaine said, before Jesse could retort. "Just… give me a call first, okay?"

Jesse looked from Blaine to Kurt amusedly as if he knew exactly why Blaine was asking him that. "Sure. Of course, Blaine." He looked around once more. "I think I'm heading out as well. I've already spent too much time in this dump of a school." He grinned at Blaine, shooting Kurt a quick look, and then he walked away. Blaine was not looking forward to hearing what Jesse had to say about him at the next family gathering.

* * *

**A/N**: So, what do you think? :) Let me know, please review!


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